Little Spokane fire remains unstable

The Little Spokane fire remained unstable late Wednesday evening, and firefighters planned to work through the night in anticipation of hot, dry weather today.

Although firefighters have containment lines around the fire, they are not confident those lines will hold, said Nick Cronquist, Washington Incident Management spokesman. The fire started Monday afternoon near the Painted Rocks trailhead in Riverside State Park. It grew Wednesday from about 100 acres to 176 acres. A non-mandatory Level 2 evacuation is still in place for 17 homes.

“There are a lot of flashy fuels,” Cronquist said. “That has some of the fire officials worried about the containment of this fire.”

On Wednesday, firefighters conducted controlled burns to contain the fire. An additional concern was today’s predicted high temperature of well into the 90s. The hot, dry weather means there is a 100 percent probability of ignition, Cronquist said. That means that if a spark lands in a plot of land it will catch.

As of Wednesday, 150 firefighters were at the Little Spokane fire. That number likely will increase today.

Personnel are being redirected to the Little Spokane fire from the 231 fire, Cronquist said. That fire, 7 miles south of Springdale, sparked Friday and has burned 970 acres.

As of Wednesday night, the 231 fire was 60 percent contained.